Residents of Mount Kisco housing complex air concerns over mold

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Residents of Mount Kisco housing complex air concerns over mold

Lower Hudson Journal news - West on,NY*

By Gorman • The Journal News • September 24, 2008

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MOUNT KISCO - Residents of a village housing complex came out to air

concerns yesterday over a long-running mold growth in their

apartments.

Pinecrest Manor residents came to a tenants association meeting to

discuss the fungal growth, part of an effort to draw attention to a

situation that some residents say is making them sick

, a 43-year-old Pinecrest resident, said her doctor has

told her that her health won't improve until she moves out of the

complex.

" I know I have to leave, " said , who believes mold at the

complex caused her asthma.

Also in attendance was Margaret King, regional director of the state

Division of Human Rights, an agency that investigates housing

complaints.

" I want to listen, for the most part, to see if there is something

that might require a formal complaint, " King said before the meeting.

King took a short tour of the complex to check out drainage around

the complex. The apartment buildings at Pinecrest sit with the

ground facing up against the back of units on the lower level.

Pinecrest Manor representatives could not be reached for comment

yesterday, nor could officials at Interstate Realty Corp., the

Marlton, N.J.-based entity that manages the complex.

said Monday that she started having breathing problems about

three years ago. She said an allergist suggested her symptoms might

be caused by mold.

In May, had -based environmental consultant

Rood visually inspect her apartment. He found a minor amount of

visible mold and evidence of past water entry in the apartment.

Subsequent mold testing by the LEW Corp. - a consultant brought in

by Pinecrest Manor - found " significantly amplified " concentrations

of aspergillus/penicillium spores in the living room and hallway of

's old apartment, according to that company's report. They

also found the presence of another mold - stachybotrys.

said she was so concerned that she and her 11-year-old

daughter, Tatiana, slept in her car for two weeks before she moved

to another Pinecrest apartment last month. But she's concerned

there's mold in the current apartment.

Rood said in an interview this week that health effects from mold

depend on the levels, the types of fungus and a person's sensitivity.

Kim Winzig, 36, said she and her 12-year-old son, , have

been sickened by mold at their Pinecrest apartment. Winzig said she

and her son have been diagnosed with asthma and that had

seizures when he was in first and second grade.

" Our allergist just told us that our breathing is going to

deteriorate the longer we stay in that apartment, " Winzig said

Monday.

Winzig said that last month she had her apartment tested for mold,

and that among the fungi found was aspergillus/penicillium as well

as stachybotrys. She wants out of that apartment, she said.

The problems Winzig and cite sound similar to those of Emma

Byrd, a longtime Pinecrest Manor resident who has been at odds with

the federally subsidized housing complex over conditions of her

former apartment. Byrd and her family had been forced from that

ground-floor apartment back in November 2004 because of a mold

infestation that apparently came into her unit through the building

foundation.

Amid a nearly decade-long legal battle with Pinecrest over the rent

nonpayment issues and the apartment's condition, she and her family

moved to the Holiday Inn, where they lived for nearly a year before

moving back to Pinecrest in late 2005. She's in a new apartment now,

but said there's also mold there.

" I haven't had it (the apartment) tested since last year, because I

really can't afford it, " said Byrd, 47.

The Byrd family is in litigation against Pinecrest at state Supreme

Court in White Plains over the mold found at her old apartment. The

lawsuit seeks up to $20 million.

, Interstate Realty's attorney in the Byrd case,

declined to comment yesterday because that litigation is pending. He

added that he couldn't comment on any other mold complaints at

Pinecrest.

Rood, who has conducted mold sampling at the Byrd's old apartment as

well as visual inspections at a couple of other Pinecrest units,

said the ventilation at the complex's buildings could be improved as

could drainage around the buildings.

Einzig, Byrd's attorney, also plans to represent Winzig and

either by filing separate cases or lumping them into one

lawsuit.

Throughout Pinecrest, there have been leaks allowing water to seep

into apartments, Einzig said. The problem is Pinecrest hasn't fixed

the seepage that causes the mold, she said.

" They seem to be coming in and painting over, bleaching the mold, "

Einzig said. " They're not addressing the cause of the problem. "

Reach Gorman at sgorman@... or 914-666-6481.